Electronic devices can be programmed to function as electronic references. These electronic reference devices typically contain an extensive database pertaining to a particular subject. For example, the database could contain an English dictionary or a medical dictionary to allow a user to quickly lookup the definition of an unknown word or medical term. These devices are typically portable and self-contained. Accordingly, the database is pre-loaded onto internal memory contained within the device. The electronic reference devices usually have a keyboard to allow the user to access the data contained in the database and a screen to display that data to the user.
In addition to allowing the user to access the database, these devices can have additional software features to be used in conjunction with the reference database. Such software features can include creating annotations to entries in the database or creating word lists of particular words in the database. Additional software that is not related to the reference database can also be included. Software that maintains a contact list and a date book are two examples. The number and sophistication of these software features can be limited, due to the size of the portable device itself and the processing and memory limitations inherent in a handheld device. A personal computer (“PC”) typically has a larger processor, larger display and more memory than the portable devices to enable a better usage of the database.
Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) ports have become standard on PCs and laptop computers. Various external devices, such as memory devices, can be attached to a PC through the (“USB”) port. In this way, the memory device can act as a removable mass storage device, and follows the USB Mass Storage Class specification, to provide data that can be used on the PC or laptop. However, these memory devices are recognized and treated by the PC as simply external memory. Consequently, they do not have any security features that will protect the digital rights of any material located on the memory.
The placement of a reference database in the memory of a portable device will often trigger concerns about protecting the digital rights of the database. These digital rights can be raised because the database is protected by a copyright. Typically, portable electronic reference devices have not implemented adequate security measures to protect these digital rights because these devices were self-contained devices without the capability of being connected to an external device, thereby eliminating the risk of unprotected copying.
In contrast, portable electronic devices that are capable of connecting to an external device also usually do not have adequate security measures because these devices typically carry information in its database that does not merit digital rights protection. For example, a Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”) will usually have a contact list or a calendar schedule stored in its internal memory. Although the PDA can be connected to a PC and the contact list or calendar schedule are capable of being copied, the information contained within those databases do not raise appreciable digital rights concerns.